Bomb Planted Inside A Microphone Kills Afghan Governor During Speech

A bomb planted inside a mosque microphone killed the governor of Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province as he was delivering a speech to worshippers on Tuesday morning to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said.

The explosion at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam killed Governor Arsallah Jamal and wounded 15 people – five of them critically, said the governor’s spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwesh.

Jamal, 47, was a close confidant of President Hamid Karzai and served as his campaign manager during the 2009 presidential elections. He also served as governor of the eastern Khost province until he was appointed to his current post in Logar in April.

There was no immediate comment from Karzai’s office on the attack.

A high-profile target, Jamal had survived a number of assassination attempts in the past, including with suicide bombings. Among those attacks were two suicide bombings against his office in Khost in May and July 2009, and a suicide car bomb attack that targeted his convoy in August 2007.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack but the Taliban have been targeting Afghan officials, military and NATO troops as part of their campaign to retake territory as international troops draw down ahead of a full pullout at the end of 2014.

What a sad way to start the Eid al-Adha. Please keep the family of the governor in your daily prayers. When will their be peace in the Middle-East?